If you haven't seen the video of this trick on Al\'s site , you haven't lived. If you haven't read the effect yet, see the video first.

This wonderful effect can be fairly easily adapted to produce the ultimate version of Expansion of Texture. Hold a half and an English Penny in the left hand, under the hank, and a Copper/Silver in the right. Whichever coin the spectator names, no magician's choice, you pull visibly right through the handkerchief. Then pull the other through (or don't). The C/S stays in your hand the entire routine and is automatically switched out at the end.

Wow, that really looks great Al. And holding the coins in this manner for the multiple (one at a time) vanish is great too. What a guy! ...but isn't there some way to gaff this? Too much purist stuff isn't good for EVERYONE.

Thanks guys.Gimmick for Osmosis?Hmmmmmm. Don't know. Need to think about that.Most think it a difficult routine.If you go over it things happen almost automatically.I have been accused of having incredible skill to do the routine. It actually is like doing a basic Spellbound routine.About the cups. I am working on an improved version of the one on the site.Actually this is one of five or so new routines. Working on a collection of cup and ball moves. This includes thimbles to waste basket cups for stage work. Think of Larry Jennings (Stencil?) handling. I have taken this work far beyond that basic stuff into something that enables a basket ball to be produced using a waste basket cup and ball routine on stage. No servant. A thin board across two chairs is used for a table so the audience has a clear shot of everything. Cheers.Al Schneider

Originally posted by Todd Lassen:[b] ...but isn't there some way to gaff this? Too much purist stuff isn't good for EVERYONE.

So what's a copper/silver, chopped liver? [/b]

Going "international" and using a gaffed coin set of some kind is not so likely to add value to audiences and introduces a vulnerability to "grabby" muggles.

For those who INSIST on going gaffed: consider using a c/s and a s/B along with a legit S and a legit B for the routine. Then one can use the HPC variation to unload the gaffs and turn them over as you apparently put then down after they penetrate. This approach is an almost trivial variation of one gaffed method for doing a Latta Coins Across routine from CoinMagic, or if you stay at the fingertips... :D Anyway I abandoned this gaffed approach over twenty five years as it tends to distance the audience instead of inviting them closer to the magic. For a counter example of this in action, check out Doc Eason's handling of the C/S/B routine.

In short: Like his Matrix routine, this elegant piece of routined magic can be encumbered, endangered and weakened by introducing unexaminable props [/b]

Originally posted by Pete McCabe: Thanks Al. It does avoid the problem that Jonathan mentions, because the C/S stays in your hands at all times and is never available for a spectator to grab.

Sorry for repeating myself, but I wasn't sure if Jonathan had read my post.

I very much like that approach. I had that and similar working many years ago for the coins across effect and am almost ready to kick myself for not applying that thinking to the expansion of texture effect.

Instead I will face West and bow to Al as the one who had the important insight in to this effect.

I am not sure how to say this and I am not even sure if it is true. I suspect that some that talk about Osmosis are really totally fooled.

I had the trick up as tri thru when I was chatting with people on the Magic Cafe. There people said wierd things about it such as it being incerdibly difficult and it is to bad it utilizes lapping. In fact my best friend Frank a fairly accomplished sleight of hand guy said a few of these things about it as we discussed it. I had in fact checked out a few handlings with him and found some of his comments curious.

One day I looked him square in the eye and told him that he was totally fooled by the trick. He denied it. Then I forced him to watch an explanation move by move. He said, "You know I didn't know how it worked. I thought you had three duplicate coins!"

The trick is actually quite simple. It is easier to do than Spellbound and a very very basic HPC.

I think Kaufaman learned it in about three minutes to reshoot the pics for the trick. (Very nice job with pics and writeup by the way.)

I think a lot of people are talking about it that do not understand how it works. I suspect that even after they read the instructions. The dirty part is very short.

After watching Osmosis a couple of time I did figure out how its done. The great thing is that it makes me like the effect even more! Great job Al- the thinking behind this is so simple its brilliant. The illusion is great and I'm sure that you have audiences grabbing for your silk and hands after every performance.

Who says that figuring out an online demo hurts magicians? I want to go buy your dvd set immediately!

It's a really great routine. The first time I saw it I was fooled. By the second viewing I was really annoyed (I substituted this for another word). The third time I smiled and had figured it out but was thrilled at the beauty and simplicity of it all. Thanks Al.

The cup and ball routine is still an experiment.I have a new one that updates the one shown on my web site.

The goal is to perfect the final load sequence. While I certainly can't fool magicians with the loads, my goal is have them watch over again to be sure they caught it. Eventually I intend to put out a pdf CD on this routine. All is in process.

Actually I was aware that the spellbound move was used but it had never occured to me that the coin they originally saw taken out was the coin that drops onto the table. My confusion (and Al is right - I was definitely fooled) was why didn't the coins in his hand "talk" and how did he get a new "duplicate in his hand" each time?

Once he "splained" it to me I was amazed at how down the garden path I had been led as a magician. It is my opinion that Osmosis will become a classic of the same magnitude as Matrix.

I feel a desire to say something about the philosophy that went into Matrix and Osmosis.

In many routines there is a necessity to recount or show what has happened in order to set up for the next phase of the routine. Another affliction many routines have is what can be called "I got a good start but no finish." The first coin across looks good. But the last looks awful or is a dramatic switch in the flow of the routine. "Now let's make it even more amazing." I am sorry, often it is not.

Both Matrix and Osmosis emerged because I spent a great deal of time trying to avoid these problems. The idea was to set up the trick to do and do it by constantly moving forward. These tricks are not necessarily briliant. They just obey this concept. The result is quite spectacular. It is a simple mechanical solution.

Originally posted by Al Schneider: Both Matrix and Osmosis emerged because I spent a great deal of time trying to avoid these problems. The idea was to set up the trick to do and do it by constantly moving forward. These tricks are not necessarily briliant. They just obey this concept. The result is quite spectacular. It is a simple mechanical solution.

Mr_oldloveYou have noticed the TL MPL on the end of the cups and balls title. That indicates a version of the routine. I am working on a version with S at the end of the title which is to represent Standing.

Michael Albright I think it appears several places in my publications. I think it is discussed in my 4 DVD set. It was first presented in Al Schneider On Coins (1965). A CD "reprint" is now available on my web site www.worldmagiccenter.com

I think the presentation of the move along with Osmosis in Genii is fairly accurate. There is not really much to the move although there are variations of its presentation. I think it is quite similar to a variety of vanishes out there. I suspect a lot of those came from my Snap Back move anyway.

I just got back from Minneapolis where I was lucky enough to have a couple of one-on-one sessions with Al Schneider. He taught me one of his latest coins across versions (French version), Osmosis, and some Cups and Balls.

I was just as wowed by seeing these on his web site as all those who already said, "Wow!". I advised all of my friends to go the site and look at Osmosis, the Cups, and Coins Across. I never imagined that the man would sit down and teach me the subtleties.

You guys are going to give me a fat head.Honestly, as time has passed, one of the things I most enjoy about magic is meeting other magicians.

Right now I am planning on being at Richards booth at the SAM. Please stop by and ask to see me do something. If you have questions, please ask. I enjoy showing off. If none of the above, stop by anyway.

Congratulations on your website Mr. Schneider...I saw Osmosis, Cups & Balls and Classic Matrix, and I have to say they look amazing...Osmosis is very beautiful, and as a fellow magician said, nothing better than a classic elegant and perfectly performed Matrix...I hope to see more videos of you soon...

Guest wrote:If you haven't seen the video of this trick on Al\'s site , you haven't lived. If you haven't read the effect yet, see the video first.

This wonderful effect can be fairly easily adapted to produce the ultimate version of Expansion of Texture. Hold a half and an English Penny in the left hand, under the hank, and a Copper/Silver in the right. Whichever coin the spectator names, no magician's choice, you pull visibly right through the handkerchief. Then pull the other through (or don't). The C/S stays in your hand the entire routine and is automatically switched out at the end.